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Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, are breaking free of the royal family starting March 31, the couple's office said Wednesday.
The announcement comes as Buckingham Palace reviewed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's use of the label "Sussex Royal" after their decision to step back from royal duties. Talks involving senior officials are ongoing about the issue and a decision will be announced alongside the launch of their new non-profit organization.
The royal couple stunned Britain with an abrupt announcement in January that they wanted to step back from royal duties. Prince Harry said he was taking a "leap of faith" in the move in an attempt to build a more peaceful life - one free of the journalists who have filmed, photographed and written about him since the day he was born.
Harry and Meghan will no longer use the titles His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness but will retain them, leaving the possibility that the couple might change their minds and return sometime in the future.
Harry's late mother, Diana, was stripped of the Her Royal Highness title when she and Prince Charles divorced.
The prince and his wife will walk away from most royal duties, give up public funding and try to become financially independent. The couple, who were named the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their wedding day, are expected to spend most of their time in Canada while maintaining a home in England, near Windsor Castle.
The couple's departure is a wrench for the royal family, and Queen Elizabeth II said at the time that she wished the couple had wanted to remain full-time royals.
Despite the unprecedented move, the couple will keep the themes of their public work - the Commonwealth, community, youth empowerment and mental health, collectively.
Harry's priorities remain supporting the welfare of servicemen and women, conservation, sport for social development and HIV. Meghan's focus remains women's empowerment, gender equality and education.
Prince Harry leaves the UK for Canada, rejoins wife and son: Reports
Prince Harry left the UK to rejoin his wife Meghan and son Archie in Canada Monday ... Variety -
Prince Harry says he is sad to leave royal role
Britain's Prince Harry spoke on Sunday of his unhappiness at being forced to ... Variety -
Queen, Prince Harry, senior royals set for crisis meeting
Queen Elizabeth II will host a showdown meeting with Prince Harry on Monday in an ... Variety


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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
30 in 30: Question #29. Do You Like Liquid Liner?
Question #29. Do you like wearing liquid liner? If so, what's your favorite?
I adore a nice winged cat eye, and my long-time favorite to achieve it is Lancome Artliner in Noir. It's a long, felt tipped pen that applies precisely, goes on bold in one stroke, and stays on all day. I'm honestly surprised it's not more popular among other bloggers and YouTube gurus- it's tops!
3 comments:
- Karla said...
Really nice look! I tried taking some pictures of a makeup look that I did and they came out awful. It's harder than it looks. : )
I posted about the giveaway that you sent me.
http://workschoolkids.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-won-makeup-giveaway-and-got-some.html - November 4, 2011 at 12:27 AM
- Unknown said...
Thanks! I've given up on actually taking decent pics of myself- they happen occasionally on accident though ;)
Glad your gift got to you safe & sound- enjoy! - November 6, 2011 at 11:20 PM
- MySkinConcierge Ava said...
I go back and forth on liquid liner, but I have now been on pencils for a while. All that said it is hard to find a good one. Right now I am using Urban Decay eye liner pencils and I am pretty happy with them both the color and staying ability. They just are a little soft in texture some times!
Chat soon! Visit me www.MySkinConciergeBlog.com
Ava Roxanne @MySkinConcierge - November 13, 2011 at 3:07 PM

subset: commoncrawl


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Michael Jackson's Mother Denounces 'The Biggest Lie' About Her Son
Katherine Jackson said her son, Michael Jackson, was a loving father and a doting son, and said it is hard to hear what she believes are misconceptions of the King of Pop, who died in 2009 at the age of 50 after being given a lethal dose of the drug propofol.
"The most difficult thing is to sit there in this court and listen to all the bad things they say about my son," she said on the stand Friday her family's wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live, the company that was promoting the world tour Michael Jackson was preparing for when he died. "[They] call my son a freak, saying he is lazy.
"My son was not lazy," Jackson, 83, continued. "That is the biggest lie around."
Home Movies and Family Photos Give an Intimate Look Into Michael Jackson's Life
In addition to being a singer/songwriter, Michael Jackson was a very good artist, his mother said, adding that some of his work has been sold. And of course, "he was born dancing," she said. "He was in my arms and couldn't be still, was dancing."
She also described Michael as a philanthropist who took joy in helping others, including his family. When asked if he ever gave her gifts, Jackson responded, "All the time. He gave me everything, the necessities of life, gifts, cars, jewelry, mobile homes."
Prince Jackson Details His Life with His Dad, Michael Jackson
However, she did not think he was physically able to complete the grueling world tour he had planned, and added that she called AEG Live's CEO Randy Phillips and Jackson's former manager, Dr. Tohme Tohme, about it. She said she didn't know Conrad Murray, the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, until after Michael had died.
"When a mother loses a child," she said, crying, "that's the worst than can happen to a person."
"Michael and I were very close," she added. "He was the son - a mother wouldn't want a better son than Michael."


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Anthon Rafael Mengs
FREE Catholic Classes
A Bohemian painter, usually regarded as belonging to the Italian or Spanish school, b. at Aussig in Bohemia, 12 March, 1728; d. in Rome, 29 June, 1779. He received his instruction from his father, Ismael Mengs, who went to Dresden while his son was quite young, and in 1741 moved to Rome, where he copied in miniature some works of Raphael for the Elector of Saxony, which were intended for Dresden. From his youth Mengs was an energetic and skilful artist, and he was appointed a painter to the Elector of Saxony before he was sixteen years old, his skill in crayon portraiture having attracted attention in Dresden. He did not, however, feel disposed to accept the position, and declined it with becoming modesty, returning to Rome, devoting himself to his studies, and working with his father for four years. In Rome he married Margarita Quazzi, a poor and virtuous peasant girl who had sat for him as a model. At the same time Mengs became a Catholic and the marriage took place in the Catholic church. Shortly afterwards he returned again to Dresden with his father, but speedily had a serious difficulty with him, being turtled with his wife and daughter into the street. The King of Poland, who was then Elector of Saxony, promptly named him a second time as a painter in ordinary to the Royal household, and employed him to decorate the Catholic church in Dresden. Owing to difficulties in the king's finances, Mengs went again to Rome in 1752, and was there employed by the Duke of Northumberland to make copies of several important pictures by Raphael still in the possession of the present holder of the title, and to be seen at Albury and Alnwick. For many years Mengs supported himself in Rome by various commissions as all his income from Dresden had been stopped, the emperor Frederick having driven the King of Poland out of Saxony. It was at this time that Mengs painted a superb fresco on the dome of the church of St. Eusebius in Rome, and another very important work in the Villa Albani. He then went on to Naples, and executed various commissions, painting an important altar-piece for Caserta, and some portraits, but quickly returned to Rome for a short time, and was then pressed to enter the service of the Spanish King, Charles III. He arrived at Madrid in 1761. Here he carried out a very large number of commissions, and was a member, and eventually the director of the Academy of St. Ferdinand. Once more he went back to Rome for the sake of his health, and was employed by Clement XIV in the Vatican. He then returned to Madrid in 1773, and painted "the Apotheosis of Trajan" in the royal palace, and several other pictures for Charles III. Again his health broke down, and he finally returned to Rome, where his wife died. He also died there, and was buried in the church of San Michele, where tbere is a bronze monument to his memory.
Mengs was a skilful writer, as well as a clever painter, but a man of melancholy dispositions, and of strange, stern habits, too sparing in his diet, and given to over-exertion. He was an affectionate father and husband, but somewhat improvident, and had so little faith in his own profession that he refused to allow his children to be educated for it. As a copyist he had extraordinary merit, and his original pictures are eclectic in their composition and technique, correct in design, smooth in execution, but somewhat too sweet and a trifle insipid. As a portrait painter, he had great success, and his works in pastel and crayon are amongst his finest creations. There are many of his paintings in Dresden and Vienna, and in the former city are some excellent miniature portraits and some copies in miniature of paintings by Raphael.
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For more information, contact the County Collector at (573) 547-4422.
Taxable personal property consists of motor vehicles, trailers, mobile homes, watercraft, boat motors, aircraft, livestock, farm machinery and equipment, agricultural crops, and any other personal property not exempted by law. Taxation of business enterprises is not included here because its complexity is beyond the scope of this explanation.
Every person owning or holding taxable personal property in Missouri on the first day of January, including all such property purchased on that day, shall be liable for taxes thereon during the same calendar year. This includes the property of non-residents whose property is held in Missouri, but does not include the property of non-residents whose property is regularly kept in another state, but just happens to be in Missouri on the first of January.
(Assessed Value / 100) x Tax Levy.
All property except that listed below 33 1/3% Mobile homes used as dwellings 19% Grain and other Agricultural Crops .05% Livestock and Poultry 12% Farm Machinery 12% Historic motor vehicles minimum $150 Certain aircraft hours flown in given year Certain business tools and equipment (see laws)
The Assessor uses standard valuation manuals for all the various types of personal property. Vehicles are the most widely owned form of taxable personal property, and for this the Assessor uses a rate book provided by the Missouri State Tax Commission. This rate book is used by Missouri counties. For any questions concerning the valuation of your property, your point of contact is the Perry County Assessor's Office. The County Assessor is the official whose responsibility is to assess the value of all taxable personal property within the county.
Yes. Each year you are required to make a list, called an assessment list, of all of your taxable personal property and mail or deliver this list to the County Assessor's office in the county where you lived on the first day of January. This list is due no later than the first of March.
All taxable personal property shall be assessed in the county in which the owner resides on the first day of January with a few exceptions. The exceptions are: houseboats, cabin cruisers, floating boat docks, and immobile mobile homes shall be assessed in the county in which they were located on the first day of January. Personal property owned by an estate shall be assessed in the county in which the division of the circuit court has jurisdiction.
Use this website link http://dor.mo.gov/business/sales/
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1. The document is checked for dates, signatures, spelling of names, acknowledgments and, depending on the type of instrument, any other information that is needed before recording. 2. If all information is correct and meets state statute and formatting requirements the document is accepted and priced according to the number of pages it contains. 3. The document is then clocked with the date and time, given a document number and certified on the top of the first page. 4. The document is scanned. 5. The document is indexed into the computer system by Grantor and Grantee name. 6. The document images are proofed and indexing verified, to see that they were correctly entered into the computer system and then the documents are returned to the proper address.
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Aaron Kopec's <i>Help Wanted</i> is a deeply witty allegory about human desire at the dawn of the information age. The story, set in a 1940s workplace, cleverly weaves aspects of IBM's early history with sexual desire and office politics. Clayton Hamburg is suitably intense as Rand Dandrich, the story's intellectual hero, a neurotic numbers man with the potential to be an early forerunner of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, if he could only gain the assertiveness needed to take control. With precise balance, Anna Figlesthaler plays Marjory Lotus, the woman who helps Dandrich get there. An enterprising woman who would have excelled as an executive in the modern business world, Lotus defers to the oppression of the era and becomes Dandrich's secretary. She sees his potential and helps him achieve it in a way that liberates them both, through the exploration of an interesting sensual and sexual relationship. An excellent supporting cast aids the central relationship.
Help Wanted
Tonight @ Alchemist Theatre, 7:30 p.m.


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Posted by Editoress on 11/28/11
Last Saturday, we headed to Scarborough, in the east end of Toronto for the grand opening of the SpiderTech Powerwatts Cycling Studio, where most of the SpiderTech powered by C10 squad gathered for the opening of this latest initiative by their title sponsor. This professional testing/training facility offers many of the same features as the successful Montreal Powerwatts studio, with some impressive made-in-Canada equipment. The SpiderTech PowerWatts cycling studio is also used for testing hockey players and other amateur athletes who are interested in measuring their cycling abilities against professional cyclist standards.
The SpiderTech p/b C10 team will be using it for fitness testing prior to heading to Europe in January to kick off their second season at the pro continental level. This coming Friday will see the full introduction of the 2012 squad at a press launch in Toronto.
Here are a few photos from the launch of the Toronto studio.
For more information, visit www.powerwatts.com.
Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top |


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Occasionally, my health insurance will forget that they did at one point authorize an antidepressant, or they'll decide that I can have it, but that I can't have it every day for some reason. I will talk to a person on the phone about it, and what becomes clear almost immediately is that they are trying to make two numbers add up correctly and I am wondering... well, I don't want to say.
Gabriel's problems are different than mine. We take the same drug for different reasons, and I would never presume to speak for him. I know only the most rudimentary version of his experience because he can't talk about it, even now. That makes it sound exotic and exciting, like the baroque psychosexual furnace that might propel an international assassin. I doubt it's that exciting in practice; in fact, it's probably debilitating in some way. But that's how this idea is generally presented: madness as a supernatural power source, as opposed to a seemingly inviting bowl of oatmeal interspersed with occasional hot glass.
Even I buy into this idea, and I should fucking know better. But if this chemical is mediating my responses - if it's adjudicating stimuli in some way - is there something true about it? I don't know, actually. You can spend a lot of time thinking about it, though.
This is the part I do know; that the upper and lower extremes of the sine wave are lopped off. The crest feels like being converted cell by cell into living electricity, I mean it's literally incredible; it's almost worth the furrow, but not really, because it's a long, long way down and it's deeper every time I go. What medication represents for me as an organism is continued existence. What it means for me as somebody who makes things is more complicated: it normalizes my state, which is something else we could graph!
Whoever this is, they are apparently still obsessed with data visualizations. I must be in here, somewhere.
(CW)TB out.


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Pumpkin Yeast Bread and Dinner Rolls
First, I hope if you live in or are from the US, you had a very happy Thanksgiving yesterday. I hope your day was full of food, and that you're still recovering. I hope you didn't mind that I didn't bring you yet another turkey or cranberry sauce recipe in the lead-up. But my T-gives (as my sister calls the holiday) was a little different than normal. For one thing, there was only two of us to feed, R and myself. R had to work, and didn't even get home until 9:00 in the evening. But I was determined that we'd feast nonetheless.
I'll post the entire meal bit by bit over the next few days, but I thought I'd start with this pumpkin yeast bread in case you have leftover, say, turkey in need of some good sandwich bread. Or if you happen to have some leftover pureed pumpkin after all of that pie-making.
I began searching out a yeasted pumpkin bread after buying a loaf from Gourmet Garage the other week and decimating it almost single-handedly in under three days. This recipe, from King Arthur Flour, was one of the only ones I found. It received rave reviews, but if I'm going to be honest, I thought the pumpkin really receded in this bread, and it was nowhere near as spiced as I would have like. Better for sandwiches than for snacking, I think. Or for receiving a good drizzle of honey. Nothing like homemade bread and honey. If I were to make it again (and I just might, because I still really love the idea), I'd probably go so far as to double the spices. Maybe I'd add some garam marsala to the mix, with its warming fragrance, and maybe some cloves. You know, spice it almost like an exotic gingerbread.
While I wasn't exactly overwhelmed, R loved the little pumpkin dinner rolls I served with our meal. The recipe is large enough that you can divide the dough in half and make two loaves, or one loaf and a dozen rolls. I'll admit that this bread does play second-fiddle quite nicely, sopping up leftover cranberry sauce, perhaps. Which is why I'm suggesting it for the gourmet leftover sandwiches I'm sure you're going to be creating.
If you decide on the rolls, I've written before about a good technique for forming them. If you're going with loaves, King Arthur suggests a 10x15 inch pan, which I don't have. So I decided to make my loaf free-form, and that was just as good. Don't worry about equipment for this one.
Pumpkin Yeast Bread
Adopted from King Arthur Flour
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages (the equivalent of 2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin (from a can is fine)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (about) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
Stir the yeast into the warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and set aside to allow the yeast to soften while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Add 4 cups of the flour, as well as the rest of the ingredients, and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Switch to the bread hook at this point, unless you plan to kneed by hand. Gradually add the remaining flour, a bit at a time, and mix into the dough until it is stiff enough to kneed. You can turn it out onto a floured surface to kneed by hand, or you can continue with the dough hook. Kneed until you have a smooth, elastic ball of dough.
Turn the dough out into a large, oiled bowl and turn the dough over so that it gets coated in the oil on all sides. Cover with a clean dish towel and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
After the dough has risen, turn it back out onto a floured surface and punch it down. Divide the dough in half and form into either two loaves, or into one loaf and about a dozen rolls. Place the loaves and rolls on greased baking sheets, cover, and allow to rise until just about doubled again, about 45 more minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
When the dough is mostly risen, bake it for about 30 minutes for loaves and 20 minutes for rolls. Check early just in case, since everyone's oven is different. When done, they will be brown on the bottom and sound hollow when tapped.
Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing in.
I've submitted this post to Wild Yeast's Yeastspotting!


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"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." - Lao Tzu
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." - Alvin Toffler
"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him." - Leo Tolstoy
Most of us take it for granted, but teh Interwebz is the greatest library of accumulated human knowledge the world has ever known. For the introspective autodidact, it is without a doubt, the greatest technological advancement in the history of mankind for both good and bad.
The best aspect of this tech, is the empowerment of the individual to do a virtual end-around all of the various gatekeepers of news and information. The Big Government-Big Business entity that is in the process of consolidating their control to bring us under a single one world tyranny can no longer simply use it's control of Big Media to dictate the narrative and control all thought.
On the other hand, the worst aspect of the world wide web is that it makes the Panopticon of Total Information Awareness a.k.a. perpetual surveillance on every citizen, everywhere, technically and feasibly possible.
In the not so distant future, "Unplugging from the Matrix" will no longer be just an allegory or abstract metaphor for contemplation, but an actual, physical action you will have to take (i.e. getting rid of your Mobile Affirmation Devices, unplugging the Tell-A-Vision and any other "smart" appliances, and cease using the Internet from any personally owned computers and devices), if you want to escape the all-seeing eye of Sauron.
But I digress.
The first three quotes I cite in this post, from Yoda (Lucas), Toffler and Lao Tzu, basically sum up my personal experiences with study in the University of the Autodidact. Almost every single facet of my personal life has been transformed, shaped and guided by all that I have learned, unlearned and relearned on teh Interwebz. The way I eat, sleep, cook, clean, shop...the way I socialize, the way I seek recreation, the way I parent my offspring, interact with my family and friends and the way I conduct myself in public whenever I am out in society at large...nothing I think and do has been unaffected or changed by all this time spent reading and writing in the virtual world.
But it is Tolstoy's quote that is the true impetus for this post.
"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
This, I think, is what lies behind the never ending cycle of debate and argument over "Game" in the MAndrosphere. Whether it's the Men's (Human) Rights Activists denouncing it as pussy begging or the God-fearing, devout Christians denouncing it as sinful nihilism, it seems to me that those who oppose this thing we call game have their minds firmly made up and are not willing to concede they may be mistaken or wrong, even when they read the anecdotal accounts and testimonies of the many people who weigh in with their own experiences on how discovering this Praxeology helped them learn, unlearn, and relearn how their attitudes, thoughts, posture, demeanor, presentation and confidence play a role in relating to others, male and female alike.
Faced with so many anecdotes of the personal transformations so many folks attribute to game, the ideologically opposed grant no quarter, refuse to spare one inch of concession that perhaps there is something of positive value here. At this point, I have to simply concede the following - if and when you come across the topic of Game on teh Interwebz, you will either "get it," or you won't. If you don't get it, or don't want to get it, great...not my problem. But if you want to tell me I'm wrong, you can try your best to convince me, but at this point I've seen it all before. Give me a new argument, because all of the other ones you've used before fail to overcome the truth of my own personal experiences and observations.
So rather than engage in yet another round of debate by engaging with the naysayers, denouncers and detractors by fisking or responding to any specific objectors posting or comments, I'm going to focus the rest of this post to discuss why I advocate people can gain much from the study of this controversial endeavor.
I also intend (but no guarantees!) for this to be my last and final post on this topic of "WHY GAME?" At this point, I'm done debating and disagreeing over this.
When I first came across the topic of Game on teh Interwebz, I had spent my entire life being indoctrinated and brainwashed into being a NICE GUY. From Generation X onward, this is the mainstream cultural paradigm we were all inculcated with via mass media programming, institutional educational curriculum and for most of us raised as Christians, the Feminine Imperative-based culture of Churchianity.
Discovering the discussion of Game by the PUA's and the PUA wannabes on teh Interwebz was literally THE "Red Pill" that lead me down the path of unlearning all this cultural indoctrination that had turned me into a NICE GUY. When I started reading about such things as hypergamy, shit tests, unapologetic masculinity, dominance, keeping/maintaining frame and how so many aspects of femininity and masculinity have been twisted, distorted and warped, it only took me less than a couple of days of reading and ruminating to grasp the big picture of just how badly I had been learned into dysfunction.
In short, conforming to the Brave New World Order's societal conditioning turned me into a bitch. As Matt Forney notes:
"Bitch" is a common insult, but no one really thinks about what it means. The interesting thing about the word "bitch" is that its meaning is different depending on the sex of who you're insulting with it.
Female bitches are typically combative, mean, miserable and bossy; in other words, they're masculine.
Male bitches are typically catty, passive-aggressive, whiny and gossipy; in other words, they're feminine.
So when you attack someone by calling them a "bitch," you're accusing them of failing to live up to the ideal of their sex.
Ah yes, that is precisely what a NICE GUY is, a bitch. Prior to reading up on the topic of Game, I was utterly and completely clueless about how and why I had become one. But boy do I remember those days well:
Why do you have to be so upset all the time?
What should I do? What would you like me to do?
Yes, Dear.
Would you like to do this? How about that?
Please, Hon?
What do you mean you can't do this anymore?
I'm sorry.
What do you mean you're unhappy? How can I make you happy?
Can I call you tomorrow?
Would you like to have sex tonight? Why not? PLEASE?!?!
Girls night out? I hope you have fun with the girls then!
I'm so sorry!
If it will make you happy, than I'll do it.
But I had plans! I made you a nice dinner, and picked up a good bottle of wine and I rented that movie you wanted to see and...... ah well, that's okay. Don't worry about it. You go out and have fun, I'll just save the food in the fridge and reheat it for you tomorrow. Don't worry about, it's not a big deal...I understand the sale ends tomorrow and you and your friends need to take advantage of it while it's so cheap. Have fun, and know that I'll be thinking of you while you girls are shopping! Love you!
Would you like this one, or would you like that one?
Will you accept my apology?
If you don't like it, I have the receipt so that you can return it and get something you do like!
Would you like to hear this song your beauty inspired me to write for you?
I'll make it up to you...I PROMISE!
What do you think about this? Is it good? Do you like it? Maybe you'll like it better if did this instead?
What should we do today?
How come you never want to have sex anymore?
Why won't you accept my apology?
Wow, he's such a jerk! Why do your friends always go out with guys like that?
Should we go to counseling?
Can I go fishing with Dave this weekend? PLEASE?!?!
Would you like me to hold your purse for you?
Will you make love to me?
Sure I'll get your tampons for you....which brand do you prefer? Absorbent or Super-Absorbent? Do you need any pads, too?
Where do you want to go? What would you like to eat?
OF COURSE you don't look fat in those jeans!
I feel like we need to work on our communication skills. I feel like we don't have meaningful conversations anymore, and I really want us to become more intimate.
Would it be okay if I go surfing with Joe tomorrow? I'll be back in time so we can do something...
NO, I was NOT looking at her!
Okay, I'll sell it or give it away...I don't really need it.
I'm sorry.
Anything you want...I'll do it!
What do you mean I always lie? I do NOT!
Do you love me as much as I love you?
Would you like to hear this poem I wrote for you?
Steve is having his bachelor party this weekend. Don't worry though, I'm not going, as there will be strippers there and I know how you don't want me to be around things like that. Don't worry, it's okay, he'll understand. Yeah, we've been friends since elementary school, but he knows how important our relationship is and that I would never disrespect you like that!
You are the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth!
How can we make our relationship better?
Can you please kiss me?
I'm sorry....
Do you need help with that?
Yes, it's my fault...again. I'm sorry.
Would you like me to....
Hey....I said I'm sorry!
Please don't hang up on me....hello? HELLO?!?!?
Oh the painful recollections of my former self and how I lived a life walking on eggshells and fearful dishonesty. Re-reading that again makes me want to retch. It makes me want to travel back in time and kick my bitch-ass self in the balls. Except even that wouldn't be possible, as my balls were safely hidden away in her purse.
I was just trying to be the Nice Guy. The archetype of the supposed type of guy women say they want.
Trying to do and be all the things a man is supposed to, to make the relationship work. Being sensitive to her needs. Striving to please her, and make sure to avoid upsetting her as much as possible.
Checking with her on everything.
Constantly asking for reassurance that she was happy. Constantly asking for her approval.
Making sure I was trying not to do anything that would upset her. This included telling a lot of "white" lies to try and avoid upsetting her. Striving to be supportive.
To let her needs, wants and desires supersede my own at every potential conflict.
This is precisely how guys slide into attraction killing "Beta-tude."
I was trying to live the
This is also how I almost ended up divorced. Thanks to the great unlearning gleaned from the insights of Game, I am today a Father, a Husband, and the unquestioned leader and head of MY household.
And the one overriding, most important principle I came to in my study of Game, was that the unapologetic, unashamed embrace of masculinity is found through honesty....honor and truth as venerated throughout history in all of the Great Books for Men. **lozlzolzol**
Game gave me the means to step outside of myself and see just how dishonest I was being in striving to be NICE. It allowed me to recognize how I was learned by society at large to become a bitch, and gave me the starting point to unlearn all those attitudes and behaviors, so that I could relearn the authentic meaning of masculinity. As noted in my past post, The Priamary Trait of the AMC: Fearful Dishonesty:
When I was an Average Married Chump, I was a liar. A dishonest weasel. I lied all the time. Most all of it was so-called "white lies." And it wasn't just in relation to my wife, but with my peer group, my work-place colleagues and school classmates...everyone.
This was because I lived my life afraid to upset other people. I tried to always find what I mistakenly thought of as the path of least resistance. To use dishonesty to avoid conflict. For instance, if I were invited to participate in something I did not care to, I would scramble for a convenient excuse -- A LIE -- instead of being honest and straightforward and saying, "no thanks, I'm not interested in doing that."
The real problem with that is when you spin webs of deceit, you eventually get tangled up and caught. It is inevitable if your whole social life is based on trying to avoid upsetting people by lying to them. And from the perspective of the woman you are having a relationship with, it is the ultimate respect-killer.
This is how "game" showed me truth, and eventually brought me to Truth. Women's attraction and respect are based on hypergamy. Being a bitch of a NICE GUY puts you into the role of supplicant, the beta-orbiter and puppy dog douche, pussy whipped and stumbling around in a oneitis-induced stupor of idiocy. This leads to contempt and the unhaaaapppppiness of your spouse. Keep it up long enough, and you end up caught and ground up in the wheels of injustice in our anti-family court systems.
Reverse-engineering this sad state of affairs was only made possible by discovering this thing called game.
I know what I know, because it was knowledge and experience gained through personal trials and tribulations, brought about by much introspection and unlearning all of the regularly scheduled programming of relationship dysfunction in our Brave New World Order.
When I contemplate the topic of Game, I am not distracted nor side-tracked by the moral and spiritual judgement of its foremost practitioners who indulge in hedonistic and nihilistic debauchery. That is where you can go with it, but that does not define it in it's sum totality.
Based on my personal experience, I am firmly persuaded that I knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before me.


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Church of Christ Heresies!
DANGER: Wolves in the Sheep Pen!by David J. Stewart
Baptismal Regeneration?
Church of God followers do NOT believe in simple FAITH in Jesus Christ to be saved; on the contrary, they most definitely demand that BAPTISM be added for one to be saved. I spoke at length recently with a Church of God minister who earned his degree from the Dallas Christian College. Dallas Christian College DOESN'T make it clear at all that they are indeed a Church of Christ college. Why are they deceptive about who they really are?
What are they afraid to tell people? Click on their "Our Mission" link and see if Church of Christ is mentioned. It is NOT! By all indications, many Christian people would ignorantly think this was a great college to attend, but it certainly is NOT! It looks innocent enough on the surface doesn't it? That's the disguise they want you to see.
I went to visit their website to read their statement of faith; as I suspected, it was vague. But as clever as the person tried to be who devised this statement of faith, it couldn't escape the discernment of a spirit-filled believer, knowledgeable in the Word of God. The following quote is taken from their statement of faith:
"...the Church of the New Testament ought everywhere to be restored with its divine plan of admission: faith, repentance, and baptism..."
Did you read that? Did you see the heresy? Is baptism necessary for admission into the Church? No sir! The very moment you trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, asking Him to forgive your sins and come into your heart, you have been born-again and are a member of the body of Christ. Any fool who tells you that you have to be baptized to become a member of the church is LYING to you! Isn't it something how misguided ministers will force you to get baptized to join THEIR church, but God accepts ANY repentant sinner into heaven.
You do NOT have to be affiliated with any church, religious group or denomination to go to Heaven. You just need Jesus! Jesus Himself proclaimed in John 14:6 that He is the ONLY way to God the Father. John 10:9 clearly declares that Jesus Christ is the DOOR by which men and women enter into Heaven. John 6:40 teaches that the will of God is to believe on Christ. Salvation is simple, we are the SINNERS and Jesus is the SAVIOR.
As I spoke with this sincerely misguided minister, he explained the following order to me as being necessary for salvation:
BAPTISM (uh oh! This is damnable heresy!)
Water baptism is NOT required for Biblical salvation!
"Repentance" is "a change of mind," not a change of lifestyle. You DON'T have to stop committing sins to be saved, you need to acknowledge your sinnership. Who can give up all their sins? No one! If all sins had to be forsaken for salvation, then NO one could be saved because we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). A changed life is the FRUIT of genuine repentance; and not a part of the ROOT of saving faith. A man's faith is COUNTED for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 3:4-6).
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that many who "confess" Him as Lord are not saved, because they have never done God's will (which is to believe on Jesus, John 6:40).
The wayward minister I witnessed to was adamant that water baptism is essential to salvation. This of course is a lie of the Devil. Though the man condemns Catholicism for their teaching of "works" salvation through the keeping of the Seven Sacraments, he is utterly blinded to his own foolish perceptions about baptism.
I flat out asked him what would happen to a person who made it to step 4, but didn't get baptized at step 5? He honestly replied that he did NOT know! He stressed the fact that he felt SAFER by ADDING that extra step of baptism to his faith. Unfortunately, that is a sure road to hell-fire and destruction.
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." —Proverb 14:12
Faith in Christ ALONE equals salvation!
Faith in Christ PLUS anything equals hell!
If I said that I believed I could trust you with my money, that would NOT be faith (that would be optimism). If I entrust you with my money and ask someone to follow you (to keep an eye on you), that is NOT faith either. If I entrust you with my money and don't take ANY precautions whatsoever, that is 100% faith. To add baptism to faith is to add a "work" to faith; consequently, it is NO faith at all. You don't need much faith to be saved, you need "just enough" faith. You need JUST ENOUGH faith to obey Romans 10:13 and "call upon the name of the Lord."
If you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed (a VERY small seed indeed), that is all the faith you need. The AMOUNT of one's faith is not of importance for salvation, what is important is that you simply HAVE FAITH. Either you have 100% faith or you do not. The Church of Christ minister I was speaking with told me that he felt much safer by adding that extra step of baptism to his faith and repentance. How stupid! How foolish! How woefully ignorant is he of the Word of God. The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 1:17 declared...
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel..." —1st Corinthians 1:17
According to the Church of Christ minister, Paul was sent by Christ to TEACH the gospel, but not to actually do any of the REQUIRED baptism to be saved. He claims this was done to prevent division in the church. True, Paul didn't want to baptize any of them because of their immature quarreling; however, this had absolutely nothing to do with their salvation. Some of the believers in the Corinthian church were actually fighting over who baptized them. They were making an issue of a non-issue. Paul lays the issue to rest by proclaiming that CHRIST did NOT send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel. It is our FAITH in the gospel of Jesus that saves us, NOT baptism.
I could go on and on about why baptism is NOT necessary for salvation. No one in the Old Testament was ever baptized. These people who claim that the Old Testament is invalid are idiots. Of course, the law which was against us was indeed nailed to the cross. Yes, the Jewish ceremonial laws are gone. However, we are still expected by God to obey the Nine Commandments (NOT to be saved, but because we are saved and love Jesus). People in the Old Testament (old contract) were saved the SAME way people are saved today, BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS (Ephesians 2:8, 9). There is NO other way to be saved! It's Jesus or hell, turn or burn friend!
Don't let some misguided individual trick you into believing that baptism is essential for salvation. The Church of Christ minister claimed that since the New Testament didn't actually begin until Jesus died, that the thief on the cross didn't have to be baptized. He is trying to say that there are TWO different plans of salvation (one for the OT and one for the NT).
He believes that water baptism was NOT required for Old Testament saints, but IS required for all New Testament saints. This is ludicrous and preposterous!!!! There is NO such teaching in the Bible. There has always been ONE and only one plan of salvation, and that is through the precious shed blood of our Dear Lord Jesus Christ! The Bible plainly teaches that Old Testaments saints were saved the same as New Testament saints...
Acts 10:43, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
Do you want to be saved? Then look upon Jesus! Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
I asked the minister what would happen if an astronaut placed his faith in Christ while in outer space? Obviously he couldn't get water baptized in space! His answer was another mere, "I don't know." How pathetic!!! How can a man go to a supposed Bible college for four years and earn a degree in theology, just to tell me that he doesn't know how a person in outer space could be saved! I'll tell you why! Because the whole doctrine of baptismal regeneration is flawed and makes no Biblical sense. He might as well become a Lutheran or a Catholic to believe that garbage.
Baptismal regeneration is of the Devil. Jesus didn't baptize (John 4:2). In the book of Romans, water baptism is only mentioned briefly in chapter six. Paul NEVER makes any direct command to be baptized! Yet, Paul expresses in Romans 10:1 that it is his "HEARTS DESIRE" for the people to be saved. Paul wanted people to be saved, that is why he went publicly from house-to-house in Acts 20:20 to witness to people. We soul-winners call this the "Acts 20/20 vision." In other words, if your consumed about winning souls to Christ, then your seeing 20/20 as a Christian. Most believers are wearing blinders.
No Rapture or Millennium?
The Church of Christ minister also said he DIDN'T believe in any type of rapture, but that the Lord would simply return and part the righteous from the wicked. We are clearly taught in God's Word that there will be a "departure" of the saints from this world; hence, the word rapture (which is not itself found in the Bible). The words of the Apostle Paul in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 are as clear as can be. In the twinkling of an eye, the Lord WILL return.
Read it for yourself. Why can't people just take the Bible at face value? Why do they persist to read in-between the lines? Why do they seek for things that God has NOT placed in the Bible? Luke 17:36 is still in the King James Bible folks! Matthew 24:41 is still in the Bible! Two shall be, and one shall remain! This foolish minister also said he didn't believe there would be a Millennial reign of Christ. Revelation 20:1-6 speaks of the 1,000 year millennium.
The purpose of this article is NOT to get into depth of these individual Bible doctrines, but rather to expose the heretical teachings of the Church of Christ. A study of Biblical prophecy is beyond the scope of this article. The Bible is very clear concerning the departure of the saints from this world (the rapture) and of the Millennial reign of Christ from Jerusalem over the earth. Satan will be bound and imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:3).
No Eternal Security?
The Church of Christ minister also said that he believed a saved person COULD lose their salvation if they got away from fellowship with the Lord. I asked him if all Church of Christ followers believed the same doctrines he did and he affirmed, YES. He laughed in my face when I told him that the Bible was clear that a saved person could NEVER lose their salvation. I mean, Jesus told Nicodemus to be "born again," NOT born again and again and again and again! Revelation 3:20 is an invitation for us to open the door of our heart to allow the Lord Jesus to come in (John 14:23).
Church of Christ folks evidently have a problem with Christians who are less than perfect. The minister was perplexed when I told him that a Christian could commit murder and still be saved. He almost became angry. His problem is that he has a WRONG view of salvation (which is why I believe he is NOT really saved).
The Church of Christ has a wrong view of salvation! The truth is that we DO NOTHING to earn salvation! If we can't do any good works to get saved, then why would doing any bad works make us unsaved? I like that statement so I'll say it again...
If we can't do any good works to get saved, then why would doing any bad works make us unsaved?
I did nothing to get saved of my own merit. All I did was place my faith in the Lord's work of atonement. It is Jesus Christ and what He did to pay for my sins that gets me into heaven, I had nothing to do with that. Salvation is OF GOD, not man! So then why in the world would anyone conclude that a person has to maintain a certain level of fellowship or righteousness with God to keep one's salvation? It is no less than a WORKS religion!
The Church of Christ is ADDING works to simple faith in Christ! They teach that you MUST be baptized to be saved! They teach that you MUST keep coming back to the Lord (to get your salvation back) every time you get away from the Lord. Listen folks, there is NOTHING in the Bible which teaches that we can fall from grace as believers. When the Bible speaks of "falling from grace" it is simply talking about unsaved people who have rejected Christ.
Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven! If you reject Jesus, then you have missed your ONLY buss ticket to heaven. This is the only way to fall from God's grace.
You CANNOT lose your salvation!!! If someone is not saved now, then they never were to begin with. As a perfect analogy, I cannot change the relationship between my and my own child. I could disown my child (which I think is a horrible thing for ANY parent to do), but they would still be my child. Even if my child killed someone, the relationship doesn't change one bit -that is still my child and I am still their parent.
Such is this case with God! No matter what we do, we are God's children. If you would like to KNOW your saved, Click Here.
No Tears in Heaven?
More heresy! This Church of Christ minister said there will be no tears in heaven. Well, he is wrong! Over and over we are warned in the Bible to be careful how we live as believers because we each shall give account to God. We are commanded to defraud not thy brother. There will be tears in heaven for those believers who lived for SELF and hurt other people while upon the earth.
The blood of our loved ones will be upon our hands if we have failed to witness to them. We can't force them to accept the truth, but we CAN love them and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. There will be tears throughout the Millennium, but all tears shall be wiped away at the end, after the Great White Throne of Judgment. All former things will be passed away (Revelation 21:4). Being a Christian DOESN'T give us a license to sin.
Though our sins are under the blood and all is well between us and God as far as our sin debt, we must still make things right with those we have wronged. Salvation balances the scale of justice between us and God, but the scales of justice must also be balanced between us and those we have victimized or hurt in ant way (Romans 12:19). The Judgment Seat of Christ is going to be a JUDGMENT only for believers, it is not going to be a joyous time for most believers. There WILL be many tears.
Heaven is Not a Physical Place?
I was really surprised when the Church of Christ minister told me that he didn't believe in heaven as a place. He believed that heaven was only a spiritual existence, NOT a literal place. I asked him about the streets of gold and the gates of pearl, he didn't believe they were literal. I asked him about the mansions which Jesus spoke of in John 14:1-2, he denied those also as being physical homes. I don't know what he's been smoking, but he sure needs to get with the program. He has been blinded by a false religion, sad but true.
In conclusion, I firmly DOUBT anyone's salvation who ADDS baptism to a childlike faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! I also sincerely doubt the salvation of any person who feels they have to live a certain way to keep their salvation (which is a big lie). The entire MINDSET is very different when you believe you are not eternally secure.
Just as the Muslims have no assurance of salvation, neither does the Church of Christ. I KNOW I am saved and NOTHING can take that from me. I CANNOT lose my salvation. So do I have a license to sin? Of course not! I don't want to sin because I still have to give account to God someday and I already have enough to answer for. I love God and want to please Him, but I fear Him equally so. I became a new creature when I was born-again. I don't live right to get saved, I live right because I am saved and God's Holy Spirit lives in my heart. My Bible says that I am saved and sure!
Your not just being safe by adding baptism to faith, your being stupid! I can say this because we are clearly warned throughout the Bible against adding anything to faith. Baptism is useless to get anyone saved. See Romans 11:6, Titus 3:5, and Romans 4:2. The bottom line is that Jesus Christ Himself did not make an issue of baptism! Read through the book of John and you'll discover that Jesus is the door, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the light, the Good Shepherd...but not one mention is made of baptism! Not one!
The Church of Christ is a false religion, just as are the Lutherans and the Seventh-Day Adventists! ONLY through simple faith in the precious blood of Jesus Christ can any sinner go to Heaven (1st Peter 1:18-19).
Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness!


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On November 17th, we'll be launching the Alex Rider Dream Gadget Contest, to coincide with the release of the next chapter in Alex's adventures, Crocodile Tears . The book comes out the same day that MAKE, Volume 20 (the kid-themed issue) hits newsstands! In case you're unaware, Alex Rider is a young spy whose exploits are chronicled in a popular series of teen spy/adventure books. Alex uses all sorts of crazy high tech contraptions, made from things in his school backpack, to get out of sticky situations.
Attention all adventure-seekers, gadget lovers, and closet inventors. You are invited to join in the fun! If you were Alex Rider, what gadget would you want in the upcoming adventure Crocodile Tears? Design your Alex Rider dream gadget, inspired by an everyday object (i.e. an iPod, a toothpaste tube, a pen). The winning gadget will be built here at MAKE Labs. Send us a schematic, tell us what your gadget is made from, and how it works. Your entry can be a schematic, sketches, and/or an explanation by you. Remember that the winning gadget should be inspired by an everyday object that one could realistically build (as much as we wish we could create a pair of scissors that fly us to the moon)!
In preparation for the contest, we're offering excerpts from the Alex Rider books, highlighting the fantastic, clever (and entirely fictional) gadgets used by Alex. Up this week is the Radio Mouth Brace from Scorpia.
Radio mouth brace:This brace is a simple and easy-to-use tracking device. The radio transmitter is held on a circuit board printed over the top of the brace so that it lies against the roof of the mouth. The metal loops that hold it in place act as an antenna.
When it is worn, the brace transmits a steady and powerful signal, which is constantly monitored by MI6's network of radio towers. Each tower analyzes the direction and strength of the signal, and by putting this information together, the location of the wearer can be pinpointed. The accuracy of the system depends on the amount of information available, but it is usually as close as one hundred feet.
A tiny switch built into the underside of the brace changes the frequency of the radio signal being produced. This is often used as a distress call.
The brace operates on kinetic power, in the same way as some modern watches. At the back of the device, in a hollow molded to the roof of the wearer's mouth, is a small, flat box containing a capacitor, a small weight, and a microgenerator. As the wearer's head moves, the weight moves back and forth, causing the generator to spin. This produces enough current to keep the capacitor charged and the radio signal transmitting.
You can download the high-res schematic for the bike pump and download a sample chapter from Scorpia to see how Alex uses it to get out of trouble.
Disclaimer: Excerpts from Alex Rider: The Gadgets by Anthony Horowitz are fictional and for inspiration only. Readers should not attempt to recreate these gadgets.
Join Make: Community Today


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Will Wilkinson says "the level of inequality, taken in isolation, [is] completely useless as a barometer of social or economic justice." The Economist says economists "cannot advance positive reasons for what the right level of inequality is." I agree.
Instead, we lefties care about inequality not because we have some idea of what the Gini coefficient or share of the top 1% should be, but because we fear that three things that would make inequalities tolerable are - to some extent - missing.
Firstly, inequalities don't all arise from fair processes.
One condition here - set out in Rawls' difference principle - is that inequality should be associated with "fair equality of opportunity". But this condition is obviously lacking when top jobs go disproportionately to people from the most expensive schools.
Also, many inequalities arise not from free market processes but from what Acemoglu and Robinson call extractive institutions - the ability of the rich to use political power to extract wealth for themselves*. The state, through crony policies such as bank bailouts, generous procurement schemes, corporate welfare policies and intellectual property laws is complicit in this. As David Grusky has pointed out, a lot of inequality is a form of market failure.
Many egalitarians aren't worried about the rising share of the 1% in itself. Instead, we worry about it, when it is combined with falling median incomes - as this is a sign that inequality has become mere predation, rather than a byproduct of a healthy economy. It's the wealth of Emma Harrison that troubles us, not so much that of Wayne Rooney.
Secondly, we fear that inequality has adverse effects. I'm not thinking so much here of its impacts on economic growth, social cohesion (pdf) and other aspects of well-being; the evidence here is convincing if you're prepared to be convinced, and not if you're not. Instead, the danger is that inequality is, as Sean McElwee says, an "affront to democracy." The obvious way in which this happens is that the rich simply buy power. But there are less obvious mechanisms too. One is that the rich's control of business gives them leverage over government policy because - as Michal Kalecki said - they can claim that anything that reduces "confidence" will hurt jobs. Also, as Adam Smith said, we have "a disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich." This not only undermines the equality of respect that's part of the democratic spirit, but it leads us to pay too much heed to the interests of the rich and not enough to those of the poor.
Thirdly, we've no great beef with inequality if it is combined with some form of risk-pooling. Even if our first two conditions were met, we'd favour some redistribution to mitigate the effects of bad luck - be it the bad luck of a bad draw in the genetic lottery or of being hurt by a recession. Of course, lefties define luck more widely that righties, but most of the latter should support some redistribution; Hayek, for example, favoured a basic income.
I say all this to make two points.
First, to the right. Contrary to what David Henderson says libertarians should worry about income inequality as it is often the product of statism.
Second, to the left. Getting the rich to pay more tax is nowhere near enough to reduce the inequalities we should tackle.
* Marxists claim that capitalism (and, I'd add, managerialism) are also extractive institutions. We don't need to go that far in this context.


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Dec 02, 2010 | |
Nanomedicine cancer scientists form new company with international pharmaceutical firm |
(Nanowerk News) University of Missouri leaders celebrated a nanomedicine milestone today as they announced the creation of a new drug development company. The new company forms a partnership between university researchers and an international pharmaceutical firm to advance testing of a potential cancer treatment created at MU. | |
Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd., one of the world's leading suppliers of ibuprofen, formed the new company in partnership with MU nanomedicine experts Kattesh Katti, PhD, and Raghuraman Kannan, PhD. The scientists are developing a promising prostate cancer treatment that uses gold nanoparticles they created at the university. The new company will continue research and testing that is required for the treatment to receive approval for use in humans. | |
"MU brings many strengths to this new partnership, which will allow us to clinically translate the unique nanotechnology developed by Drs. Katti and Kannan," said Abhaya Kumar, a founding director of Shasun. "Everything we need for developing this product for use in patients is at the University of Missouri." | |
Katti and Kannan have studied their new therapy for treating late-stage prostate cancer for more than five years. Their efficacy studies in mice with prostate tumors have demonstrated an unprecedented 85 percent reduction in tumor volume after administering a single dose of their radioactive gold nanoparticle. They have observed little or no toxic side effects as a result of the injected dose. | |
"This is probably the most promising result we could expect," said Andrew Kurtz, PhD, a program manager at the National Cancer Institute's Small Business Innovation Research Development Center. "The next stage would be to hopefully move things into clinical trials to see if we find the same results in humans." | |
The therapy will advance toward human testing with support from a $1.5 million initial investment by Shasun. The money will help MU hire scientists and conduct further laboratory studies. If the therapy is approved for humans, patients at MU's hospitals and clinics could be among the first to benefit from the cancer treatment. | |
"In addition to offering hope to patients, the partnership with Shasun reflects MU's commitment to supporting high-tech companies that will create jobs and enhance our quality of life in Missouri and beyond," said Robert Duncan, PhD, vice chancellor for research at MU. | |
MU business development specialists helped Katti and Kannan form a company, Nanoparticle Biochem Inc. (NBI), to pursue commercialization opportunities for the scientists' nanotechnology discoveries. Shasun joined NBI to form the new company, Shasun NBI, which is housed in MU's Life Science Business Incubator. MU, NBI and Shasun could someday share royalties from the prostate cancer treatment. | |
"Shasun is a perfect partner to hopefully bring MU's promising new cancer therapy to a world market," said Michael Nichols, PhD, vice president of research and economic development for the University of Missouri System. "Universities like MU need strong commercial collaborators, especially in medicine, because it typically takes hundreds of millions of dollars and more than a decade to take a potential treatment for patients from the laboratory to the clinic." | |
Prostate cancer is the second most deadly cancer in men. The American Cancer Society estimates that 217,730 people in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and 32,050 U.S. residents die annually from the disease. One in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. | |
In 2005, Katti received a prostate cancer research grant that distinguished MU as one of 12 universities to participate in the National Cancer Institute's Nanotechnology Platform Partnership. The grant established MU as a leader in advancing nanomedicine by uniting a variety of biomedical research resources across campus. For example, the MU Research Reactor, the most powerful university reactor in the world, is one of only a few sites able to produce the radioactive gold nanoparticles created by Katti and Kannan. | |
"MU's proactive support of our research has allowed Dr. Kannan and I to join Shasun in taking this important step toward helping cancer patients," Katti said. "This kind of culture has put MU on the map as a destination for world-class science that attracts international attention and investment." | |
Katti is a Curator's Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Physics and a Margaret Proctor Mulligan Distinguished Professor in Medical Research. Kannan is the Michael J. and Sharon R. Bukstein Distinguished Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, assistant professor of radiology and director of the Nanoparticle Production Core Facility at the University of Missouri. | |
Shasun was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Chennai, India. It manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients and exports pharmaceutical products to countries across Europe, North America and elsewhere. More information about the company is available at http://www.shasun.com/ |
Source: University of Missouri School of Medicine |


text: Obama in the State of the Union (#SOTU) hit some unprecedented markers when it comes to civil rights. He spoke of same-sex marriage as a civil right and he spoke of the protection of those in the LGBT community, a first for SOTU. What's even more exciting is that 2015 could make the final mile for same-sex marriage approval. Here's a quick breakdown of milestones in the quest for marriage equality and its current status in terms of social and political approval.


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That doesn't even begin to describe everything that's going on behind the walls of the new Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum on the Ohio State University campus, opening to the public Saturday.
"This is the stuff that makes me drool," says Jim Borgman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist who now draws the "Zits" newspaper comic strip. "I enjoy art of all kinds, but it's as if cartoons were segregated for many years and not allowed into such hallowed halls. And this is kind of a moment of setting things right, I think, giving cartooning its due when it has been in the wings all these years."
Jeremy, the kid from "Zits"? He's in there, too, since Cincinnati native Borgman donated most of his art and papers to the museum.
The whole thing started with Milton Caniff, the influential comic artist whose beloved "Terry and the Pirates" and "Steve Canyon" adventure strips lived in the nation's funny papers for a half century.
Caniff graduated from Ohio State and loved the place so much he wanted his original art and other papers to be kept here forever. He handed it all over to the university in 1977. Along with library curator Lucy Shelton, Caswell then began urging his cartoonist friends to do the same. Two classrooms in the journalism building soon began to fill with the new comics archive.
"Prior to that, most universities ignored that type of popular culture," says current curator Jenny Robb, noting for the many years original comic strips were just thrown out with the trash and animation celluloid sheets - known as "cels" - were routinely wiped clean and reused.
Today the museum collection includes more than 300,000 original strips from everybody who's anybody in the newspaper comics world, plus 45,000 books, 29,000 comic books and 2,400 boxes of manuscript material, fan mail and other personal papers from artists. The university says it's the largest collection of cartoon art and artifacts in the world.
The museum has originals from everyone from Richard Outcault - whose "Yellow Kid" in a 19th century comic strip spawned the term "yellow journalism" - to Charles Schulz ("Peanuts"), classic "Pogo" story lines from Walt Kelly, Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury," Chester Gould's "Dick Tracy," early "Blondie" strips from Chic Young and the entire collection of Jeff Smith, an Ohio State graduate who created the hugely popular "Bone" series of comic books.
It's all been moved over to a new 30,000-square-foot home in a high-profile corridor of the sprawling Columbus campus, into a space renamed for Ireland, the former editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch who was one of the pioneers of the art form. His family donated a big chunk of money for the project.
The new place has also got what's been missing at the museum's two previous campus locations: a large gallery space for permanent and rotating exhibitions of comics and cartoon art that will finally give it the air of a proper museum.
Brian Walker, who collaborates on the "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois" newspaper strips created in the 1950s by his 90-year-old father, Mort, is putting together one of the first exhibits.
"I told my father, this is what we've all be working for for 30 years," says Brian Walker, who has written or contributed to three dozen books on the history of comics. "It's kind of like the ultimate dream that we hoped would happen someday, where all this great artwork is being kept safely and archived and made accessible to the public."
It's partly because of the Walkers that the museum is what it is today. They held thousands of original comics and artifacts donated to the Mort Walker-founded International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Fla. When the museum ran into financial trouble during the recession, the Walkers were persuaded in 2008 to donate the entire collection, which included 200,000 original strips, to Ohio State.
About a decade before, the museum got the entire collection of the defunct San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, which included 2.5 million clipped newspaper comic strips and Sunday color comics.
Robb says she's especially proud of the collection of original strips and other papers donated by Bill Watterson, the famously reclusive creator of the "Calvin and Hobbes" strip.
"We think this will be a destination for comics fans from around the country and around the world," Robb says. "We hope that Ohio State is synonymous with cartoons in the way it is synonymous with football."
The grand opening of the museum is timed to happen during the Festival of Cartoon Art, which every three years brings artists and other to the university to talk about the craft.
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WASHINGTON -- Physicians and health plans need more financial incentives to spur greater medication adherence, experts said Thursday at a panel discussion here.
Without such a push, the healthcare community will continue to struggle with the issue of getting patients to take their medication as prescribed, they agreed.
An estimated three-fourths of patients either stop their medication, don't use it, don't refill it, or don't take their medication often enough. Non-adherence costs the healthcare system between $100 billion and $289 billion a year in direct costs, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
But current programs are fragmented or not wholeheartedly supported by providers, plans, and patients.
One example of a successful adherence effort is found in Medicare Advantage. Starting last year, the program's Star Ratings system began incorporating patients' medication adherence into its quality system, giving bonus payments to those with higher star ratings.
In only the first year, the change has led to dramatic improvements in adherence, said Josh Benner, PharmD, president and chief executive of RxAnte, a private company in McLean, Va. that is seeking to better medication adherence.
"What's really going to be exciting is what the 2012 data look like," Benner said at the panel, which was hosted by the National Coalition on Health Care. "This calendar year is the first where a full year of effort will be able to be monitored, and we're, of course, hoping to see continued success."
If the program shows improved adherence and improved patient outcomes in the long run, "I think there will be a lot of calls to expand it to Medicaid and to the rest of Medicare," Benner told MedPage Today.
Plans are mobilizing around such policy incentives, he said.
"Plans that we work with have multiplied their adherence intervention budgets from 2011 to 2012," Benner said. "They're actively going out and establishing relationships with adherence invention vendors in ways that health plans never really had a reason to do previously."
Other private companies are trying their own tactics.
Brian Solow, MD, chief medical officer at OptumRx, in San Diego, Calif., explained his company's use of reminders sent to patients via e-mail, text message, or phone call to take or refill their medication. OptumRx uses claims data to know when patients need to refill their prescriptions.
The program increased adherence by 11%, he said, and saved more than $724,000 on just 1,000 members.
Part of the struggle is getting health plans to spend more on interventions or drug plans now to realize savings by preventing costly hospital stays or procedures later from not taking medication, panelists said.
However, Will Shrank, MD, director of the Rapid-Cycle Evaluation Group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in Baltimore, spoke of a study involving filling prescriptions for free -- rather than traditional cost-sharing such as co-payments -- to patients who recently had a heart attack.
Results showed a 5% improvement in adherence and 14% fewer subsequent cardiovascular events. The cost was $5,000 less per patient, he said.
Patients stop or don't take their medication for a variety of reasons including high out-of-pocket costs, side effects, and being unconvinced of the need or effectiveness.
To be successful, adherence interventions need a number of qualities, Benner said, including needing to:
- Be delivered by a trusted source
- Reinforce the medical need for the drugs
- Target at-risk patients
- Reward maintenance
A solution needs to be multifaceted, panelists said. Part of the problem has been a quick reaction to try simple solutions, but that hasn't seemed to work.
"We really ought to leave it all on the table to try to come up with a strategy," Shrank said. "We're going to have to target different approaches to different people to try to figure out what's the right kind of target for a particular patient."


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You're reading an outdated article. Please go to the recent issues to find up-to-date content.
As non-linear loads proliferate in the industrial and commercial sectors, problems due to harmonic currents caused by these loads are becoming more common. However, the presence of harmonic currents is often not, in itself, a problem. The real problem may be some secondary effect they cause. Let's look at some examples.
Industrial environments
Industrial non-linear loads using three-phase power, such as adjustable speed drives and rectifiers, all cause fifth and seventh harmonic currents to flow. These currents use up system capacity and can contribute to transformer overheating. However, in many facilities, these currents go unnoticed until a larger event signals their importance.
This event might be the imposition of a utility power factor penalty. Capacitors installed to improve the power factor cause an electrical resonance to occur and the capacitors to fail or even worse, some part of the facility to be electrically damaged. Now the harmonics are interfering with the power factor improvement plan. The solution is to add capacitors so as not to cause resonance. Manufacturers can provide such a solution under names such as "detuned capacitors" or "protected capacitors." These devices are primarily designed to add capacitance and provide minimal harmonic filtering.
Second, the utility might decide to impose harmonic regulations, such as IEEE 519 on the facility and, once again, the harmonic currents surface as a problem. They cause the facility to exceed allowable distortion limits at the utility interface. The solution is to add filters to remove the harmonic currents, and again a number of manufacturers can provide these devices. Such filters are often placed at the transformer, where they intercept harmonic currents before they can reach the utility.
Third, more equipment may needed. However, because the electrical system is carrying harmonic currents, no useable capacity is available to power this equipment. Again, filters can be used to remove the harmonic currents, but now they must be placed near the harmonic generating loads to reduce loading on the distribution buses.
Commercial facilities
Most commercial non-linear loads are personal computers. Commercial facilities usually are powered by a third-phase, four-wire, 208/120-volt wye system with the loads connected phase-to-neutral to 120 volts. Such loads cause large amounts of all odd harmonic currents to flow in the system, with the third harmonic often equal in magnitude to the fundamental current. Valuable system capacity is wasted carrying harmonic currents. And third harmonic currents from all three phases combine in the neutral wire, often leading to a neutral current higher than the phase currents. The extra currents—if left unchecked—can lead to overheating of transformers, switchgear, and neutral wires.
When computer loads are moderate in relation to other system loads, the harmonic currents are not a problem. However, problems arise when computer loads are added. For example, a small call center in a leased office space might wish to add personnel. As soon as more computers are plugged in, the breakers start to trip; there is no additional useable capacity and the building owner is unwilling to add capacity. The only way to release capacity here is to plug each computer into a product that removes the harmonics.
On a larger scale, major computer users may suddenly occupy a facility built with an electrical system that is not designed to handle large amounts of harmonic currents. If transformer overheating is the problem, they can be replaced with k-rated or oversized units designed to withstand the extra heat, or zig-zag filters can remove harmonic currents. If neutral wire overheating is the problem, new conduit and double wires can prevent its consequences.
The most common problem caused by harmonic currents is lack of useable system capacity. To add useable capacity, a harmonic suppression system is available that can prevent formation of harmonic currents, releasing previously wasted capacity and enabling full use of system capacity for the powering of multiple computer loads—without upsizing the system.
When a facility is to be built and it is known that many computers will be powered, the optimal solution appears to be to ensure that a harmonic suppression system is specified and installed. At a minimum, the electrical system should be designed to withstand harmonic currents using oversized k-rated transformers, double neutral wires, and additional cooling equipment.
While small amounts of harmonic currents do not trouble electrical systems, harmonic-producing loads are increasing. Reduced useable capacity, overheating, and power factor improvement are becoming the norm. Installing equipment to avoid or eliminate problems adds up-front costs and may be unpopular with facility owners. However, it can be more cost effective to avoid or eliminate harmonic-caused problems in the design stage, rather than using an expensive retrofit solution.
LOWENSTEIN is president and chief technical officer (CTO) of Harmonics Limited. He can be reached at [email protected].


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Accounting Insights LLC
Accounting & Bookkeeping Services Located in Brunswick, Maine
Accounting Insights specializes in partnering with small businesses and their tax accountant. We capture and analyze the accounting data that provides valuable insights to improve your business. We are primarily focused on QuickBooks Online support and have achieved an Advanced Certification for QuickBooks Online.
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, and the Maine State Music Theatre. It was formerly home to the U.S. Naval Air Station Brunswick, which was permanently closed on May 31, 2011, and has since been partially released to redevelopment as "Brunswick Landing". == History == Settled in 1628 by Thomas Purchase and other fishermen, the area was called by its Indian name, Pejepscot, meaning "the long, rocky rapids part [of the river]".
Back Cove, Bayside, Blue Point, Bradleys Corner, Brunswick Downtown Association, Brunswick High School, Brunswick Junior High School, Brunswick Station, Brunswick Town Hall, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, Cumberland Center, Cumberland Foreside, Deer Hill, Deering, Douglas Ridge


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Healing from alcohol addiction and depression
J. L. (54), Buffalo (USA)
Shortly after my 18th birthday (1968) I began to drink beer and schnapps. I would drink 12 to 18 beers a day from Monday to Sunday. It was normal for me at the time to come home from work, change clothes, go to my favourite hangout and stay there until three o'clock in the morning. Then I would get up at seven o'clock and go to work, always with a terrible hangover. I was working in the construction industry at the time. This happened day after day. Thus it became the pattern of my life. Today I can't understand how I was able to survive for 35 years with such excessive alcohol consumption.
I had the desire to put an end to my life
In 1972 I married, and the relationship lasted for eight years. I can remember how I would often come home at 11:00 p.m. or later and a cold supper would be waiting for me on the table. My marriage suffered and ultimately failed because of that. I realized that I didn't love myself anymore. My life was consumed by trouble and hopelessness and I often had the desire to put an end to it.
After separation and divorce from my wife (1982), I fell into a severe depression which overshadowed everything else in my life. The years were marked by a tormenting sadness, hopelessness and despair. I even attempted suicide by shooting up poison after a nervous breakdown. I had huge lapses of memory at the time. A second suicide attempt followed. I then remembered my children. I am a single father and only the love of my son and my daughter kept me alive. So I went on living, each day accompanied by the tormenting inner misery and the alcohol.
I requested the inner peace
In January 2004 I was introduced to the teaching of Bruno Gröning by a friend of mine. He showed me how to take in the Heilstrom and said that many healings had already occurred in this way.
When I went to bed the following night I was still filled with the bitterness of life, worry and hopelessness. That night I requested for the first time the inner peace I had known earlier. I had the feeling I had to give up all my troubles. At that time I wasn't yet ready; I needed six months before I would be capable of letting go.
During the first two months after my introduction to the teaching of Bruno Gröning nothing happened. I didn't take in the Heilstrom and went on living as before. The same friend invited me to the wedding of his only daughter. I didn't go to the wedding. I drank the whole day through. Little was said about my not going to the big event but I knew that I had hurt his feelings, just as I had hurt other people in the past. The pangs of conscience and feelings of guilt that came over me got worse, and I can remember saying, "Please, God, let me die! I've had enough!"
Das Wunder geschah
After that, the same friend invited me to participate in a conference of the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends in Detroit in 2004. I didn't actually want to go, but saw on his face his hope for me that help and healing could be granted to me in this way. I went there because of the guilt feelings, because I had stayed away from his daughter's wedding celebration and because of our friendship. I didn't expect anything for me there. I was at the conference for two days and left one day early. I simply didn't believe in what I heard there.
During the conference I didn't drink any alcohol. On Wednesday of the following week I noticed that I hadn't drunk a single beer for five days in a row. Not only that, I also noticed that I hadn't thought even once of drinking beer during that time. The miracle had happened, and I know of no other word to express the power of this experience.
Since that time the yearning for alcohol has been taken from me. No withdrawal symptoms have appeared. Thirty-five years of alcohol dependence came to an end within three days. It feels as if I have become a different person-and I have, too.
After the conference I began to regularly take in the Heilstrom. One morning in October of the year 2004 I was playing some video games. I perceived an enormously powerful energy climbing from my feet to my neck. At that moment I felt that something was about to happen. Unsolved issues that had tormented me for many years inwardly became completely clear to me. ; My whole being had been overwhelmed and distorted by these problems. I determined that everything has another side to it. Little by Little the burden of my entire life was taken away from me. I felt lighter than ever before, and I felt like myself again. I began to laugh aloud from out of my gut as I hadn't done for a long time. It was a laugh that was so complete that it brought a feeling of liberation along with it. Since that time the depression has disappeared. Hopelessness and anxiety have given way to joy-joy and gratitude for being alive.
Psychologist's comment:
The report impressively describes the chronic progression of Mr. L's illness. Due to his daily alcohol consumption (12 – 17 glasses of beer per day) the divorce from his first wife comes about. A severe depression of more than 20 years with two suicide attempts follows. His two children are keeping the single father alive.
After Mr. L. had consumed great quantities of beer every day for over 35 years, he came across the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends in January 2004. The alcohol dependency as well as the depression disappears within a few months. This positive turnaround in Mr. L.'s life, right up to a full healing of his whole personality, counters any expectations after an alcohol dependency persisting over decades.
U. T., Psychologist


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05 January 2012
Industrial design work is set to begin for a deep geological repository for France's high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste following the signing of a contract between French radioactive waste agency Andra and a joint venture of two engineering companies.
Cigeo's underground operations will ultimately occupy 15 km2
(Image: Andra)
Andra has signed a six-year contract with Gaiya, a joint venture of Technip and Ingérop, as main contractor to project manage the conceptual and front-end phases of the Centre Industriel de Stockage Géologique project, dubbed 'Cigeo'. The facility will provide final storage for the most radioactive of France's waste, mostly from its nuclear power plant operations and used fuel reprocessing. The first conceptual study phase is to be conducted during this year and will lead on to a public consultation that will take place in 2013. The signing of the project management contract concludes a phase of study and research set in motion by France's 1991 Waste Management Act. In 2006, the act was updated to formally declare deep geological disposal as the reference solution for high-level and long-lived radioactive wastes, making Andra responsible for the design and establishment of a repository with target dates of 2015 for licensing and 2025 for operations. The Cigeo project will see the development of a storage facility at a depth of some 500 metres, located in the Meuse/Haute Marne area in eastern France where Andra has already conducted extensive geological and scientific studies in the Bure underground laboratory. The facility will exploit the properties of the Bure clay formation as a geologic barrier to prevent any potential spread of radioactivity. Although Cigeo will be designed to accommodate the wastes permanently, French law requires that storage can be reversible for at least 100 years.
Cigeo's surface facilities are envisaged as occupying approximately 300 hectares, spread over two sites a few kilometres apart. Underground storage facilities will be developed in a modular fashion, eventually extending to 15 square kilometres. The facility is anticipated to operate for 100 years before final closure. The industrial design phase which is now beginning will see the development of designs for the storage facility taking into account all the operational, civil engineering, equipment, organization and site operation considerations throughout its lifetime, as well as estimations of construction time and overall costs, and gathering relevant technical data. During 2012, the anticipated inventories of waste to be placed in the repository will be specified in collaboration with the waste producers (namely French nuclear utility EDF, fuel cycle company Areva and nuclear research and development agency the CEA), while at the local level attention will be focused on planning for the surface facilities and infrastructure development. Andra plans to launch tenders for contractors to carry out preliminary design studies for surface installations, conventional nuclear surface facilities, waste package handling and and underground facilities in 2013. Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
WNN is a public information service of World Nuclear Association


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Now this is what we call facing the music.
Alex Da Silva, former choreographer of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, was handed a 10-year prison sentence today for raping a female student and assaulting another and was ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Last September, a Los Angeles jury convicted Da Silva, 43, of the forcible rape of a 22-year-old woman in August 2002 and assaulting a 25-year-old protégé with the intent to rape in March 2009—part of a series of shocking charges alleging the salsa expert sexually assaulted four different women during private lessons over a six-year period between 2003 and 2009.
However, the panel deadlocked on four other counts, including an additional charge from the March 2009 attack and the alleged rapes of two other women in 2004 and 2005.
Had he been found guilty of those other charges, the Latin dance instructor could've been jailed for life.
While meting out his punishment, L.A. Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy formally dismissed those counts today. She also chastized Da Silva in court, saying he "does not respect women" and "believes he is entitled to do whatever he wants when he wants."
The Brazilian native was originally arrested in August 2009, following a police probe into criminal complaints that alleged he lured four female victims to private one-on-one lessons he conducted in his North Hollywood home and then raped them.
—Additional reporting by Baker Machado